Nevada’s pandemic-era mandate for universal free lunches in schools ends on Sept. 9.
The arguments in favor: Kids need a good meal in order to perform well in school. (I have taught elementary school, and I’ve seen enough kids skip lunch and then spend the afternoon too spacey or grumpy to participate, so I’m nodding my head to this one.) Free meals help reduce the stigma of poverty. The money spent administering an application process is better spent feeding kids.
The arguments against are mostly about cost. One frequently made point is that the state should not be spending money to feed children from wealthy families. Nevada was reportedly planning to spend $43 million on school meals during this school year, until Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed the bill.
Disappointingly, the conversation quickly became less about the merits of each argument, and more about how the governor is supposedly an evil monster who hates your children.
A Nevada Dems press release from Aug. 26, headlined “Republicans Say Feeding Students is a ‘Waste of Money,’” is more incendiary than informative. The Dems linked to a post from the Nevada Assembly Republican Caucus on X (formerly Twitter) that said no such thing. It actually reads, “Those in need are already eligible and have access to free and reduced meals.” This is true—80% of Nevada’s kids will still have access to free school meals.
As Nevada Current editor April Corbin Girnus pointed out in her clear-headed editorial, “Democrats, Lombardo both deserve detention for their free lunch food fight,” Dems on the forefront of this issue are ignoring the fact that the majority of Nevada’s kids do still qualify for free lunches. If you’d like to cut straight to the facts, and get a sharp perspective from a working mom, April’s editorial is a great place to start.
Meanwhile, here’s one more thing I learned in the classroom: When kids were spacey or grumpy after skipping a meal, there were usually remedial lessons, additional communication with parents, and added disciplinary issues. The added time and energy it took to meet these kids’ needs definitely had a cost.